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Alex Burger[1] is an American playwright and screenwriter, based in Los Angeles. He is known as head writer for Seasons 3 and 4 of Umlilo (Zulu for “The Fire”), the SAFTA Award-winning[2] South African drama.
Early life and education
Burger grew up in Wenham, Massachusetts. When he was a child, he and his family were a part of a 60-person magic troupe, performing in over 1,200 performances of Le Grand David and his Own Spectacular Magic Company. Burger attended Deep Springs College in California and then Harvard College, where he graduated magna cum laude in Comparative Study of Religion.[citation needed] He earned an MBA at INSEAD in Singapore and France.[citation needed]
In his 20s, Burger worked with Mother Teresa in Calcutta, India, and then went on to do civil rights work in Alabama for seven years, where he wrote numerous publications.[3][4][5] He was awarded the “Spirit of Dr. King Award” for his work on racial justice.[citation needed]
Writing career
Burger began work as a poet, winning the Alabama State Poetry Society Award in 1997. He then wrote for the theatre; his first play, Ain’t Nothin’ Changed, was performed in San Francisco as part of the Playground Theatre Festival[6] and then won the Harvardwood writing competition in 2010.[7] His play Whose Blood: A Tale of Desire and Despair Set in a 19th Century Operating Theatre had a fully sold-out run at London’s Old Operating Theatre in 2012.[8] The play was then written up in Wellcome Trust Magazine[9] and was the subject of a chapter in the book Challenging History in the Museum.[10] Other plays include Mashoga (My Wife) (Glasgow Any Objections Festival 2013), The Inkanyamba (Market Theatre Lab, 2015), and Fees Must Fall (Wits University, 2016).
Burger's work in television includes head-writing Seasons 3 and 4 of the SAFTA Award-winning television show[11]Umlilo (e.tv 2015-2016). The show was the most-watched drama in South Africa at the time and has won awards for Best Drama and Best Writing. Other credits include writing for Doubt (Mzanzi Magic, 2016), Hard Copy Season 4 (SABC 3, 2016), 90 Plein Street Season 5 (SABC 2, 2016), and Isithembiso (2017). He has also successfully created projects for Stained Glass Productions, Quizzical Pictures, and The Bomb Production Company.
In addition to writing, Burger is also a writing instructor, having lectured in writing at the University of Witwatersrand (2015-2016), Market Theatre Laboratory (2014-2016), and the California Institute for Integral Studies (2017–present).[12] Burger’s nonfiction work includes the unpublished manuscript Someday It Will Rain: A Journey Through Big Oil and Development in Africa, for which he is represented by Lowenstein and Associates in New York City.
Since 2017, Burger is based in Los Angeles where he is working on a number of television projects including co-creating a new series with author Carolyn Cooke, co-writing a feminist TV show Here She Comes about two experimental sex therapists, and working on a web-series for Mundo Loco films.
In 2019 he served as the head writer for the South African Afrikaans Drama Die Testament[13] (Season 1 and Season 2) found online at Network 24 which launched September, 2019.
Alex also executive produced a series of videos for The World Bank group[14] documented a five year program in Ghana, Guinea and Côte d'Ivoire working with infrastructure companies, government, and local businesses.
Activist career
Burger has 25 years’ experience running development and civil rights projects in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the USA. He has a long-standing relationship with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector division of the World Bank,[15] where he won the IFC Corporate Award. He served as the Vice President of Community Affairs for AngloGold Ashanti, Africa’s largest mining company, from 2011 to 2013.[16] He has served on numerous boards, including the United Way of Central Alabama, the Southern Partners Fund, and Be Strong Families.[17]
Filmography
Television series
Head writer
Year
Show
Season
Episode title
Episode number
Original airdate
Notes
2016
Umlilo
3
Blame
1
March 21, 2016
Back to Business
2
March 28, 2016
The Bail Hearing
3
April 4, 2016
The Cleansing
4
April 11, 2016
The Dinner Date
5
April 18, 2016
Loose Ends
6
April 25, 2016
The Trial Begins
7
May 2, 2016
Miscarriage of Justice
8
May 9, 2016
Defence
9
May 18, 2016
A Change of Plea
10
May 23, 2016
Welcome Returns
11
May 30, 2016
Under Siege
12
June 6, 2016
Final Revenge
13
June 13, 2016
2016
4
New Beginnings
1
June 27, 2016
The Agreement
2
July 4, 2016
The Tables Turn
3
July 11, 2016
The Homecoming
4
July 18, 2016
Friends and Enemies
5
July 25, 2016
Bulalela
6
August 1, 2016
Prisoner
7
August 8, 2016
Mother
8
August 15, 2016
Rapist
9
August 22, 2016
Family
10
August 29, 2016
Life and Death
11
September 5, 2016
The Heir
12
September 12, 2016
Umlilo
13
September 19, 2016
Storyline
Year
Show
Season
Episode title
Episode number
Original airdate
Notes
2016
Doubt
1
Wedded Bliss
1
April 11, 2016
Something Fishy
2
April 18, 2016
No One to Trust
3
April 25, 2016
Written by Alex Burger
Proof in the Pudding
4
May 2, 2016
When All Is Lost
5
May 9, 2016
Perilous Pursuit
6
May 16, 2016
Written by Alex Burger
Not-so Great Escape
7
May 23, 2016
Closet Killer
8
May 30, 2016
Getting Close, Telling all
9
June 6, 2016
I Want my Share
10
June 13, 2016
Dangerous Job
11
June 20, 2016
The Devil They Know
12
June 21, 2016
Written by Alex Burger
Friend Gone Eerie
13
June 22, 2016
Written by Alex Burger
Story
Year
Show
Season
Episode number
Original airdate
Notes
2016 - 2017
90 Plein Street
5
1
November 30, 2016
2
December 7, 2016
3
December 14, 2016
4
December 21, 2016
5
December 28, 2016
6
January 4, 2017
7
January 11, 2017
8
January 18, 2017
9
January 25, 2017
10
February 1, 2017
11
February 8, 2017
12
February 15, 2017
13
February 22, 2017
Storyline
Year
Show
Season
Episode number
Original airdate
Notes
2016
Hard Copy
4
1
October 3, 2016
2
October 10, 2016
3
October 17, 2016
4
October 24, 2016
5
October 31, 2016
6
November 7, 2016
7
November 14, 2016
8
November 21, 2016
9
November 28, 2016
10
December 5, 2016
11
December 12, 2016
12
December 19, 2016
13
December 26, 2016
Story consultant
Year
Show
Season
Episode number
Original Air Date
Notes
2018 - 2019
Isthembiso
1
1 - 208
2018 - 2019
Head writer
Year
Show
Season
Episode number
Original Air Date
Notes
2019
Die Testament
1
1 - 64
2019
2022
Die Testament
2
1 - 48
2022
Plays
Writer
Year
Title
Role
Notes
2010
Ain’t Nothin’ Changed
Writer
Was performed in San Francisco as part of the Playground Theatre
2011
Whose Blood: A Tale of Desire and Despair Set in a 19th Century Operating Theatre
Writer
Played to a fully sold-out run at London’s Old Operating theatre (2012)
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